hiding speaker wire?

sewround · 2006-10-09

I have to route 2 pair of 16awg wire on each side of the room. Are there products or techniques to help hide the wires? any tips appreciated.

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Warren460

· #2 · Oct 9, 2006

yes,

a) hire professionals or

b) the are wire covers that fit over your baseboard. Ask at the retail stores that do custom installs how they hide the wires. I am sure that they will be happy to tell you why you should hire them.

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Steve13

· #3 · Oct 9, 2006

If you don't want to hire professionals and don't want to fish wires through the walls (sometimes tough if you haven't done it before), you've got two basic optons.

As Warren mentioned, you can use molding like wiremold to conceal it on top of your baseboard or you can use flat wire. Flat wire isn't much thicker than tape and if you are planning on repainting the room it's a viable option.

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Mach1_8

· #4 · Oct 9, 2006

Does your house have a crawlspace? If so you may be able to route these wires through the walls with little hassle by going under the flooring. My new house does not have a crawl space so I had to hassle with fishing the wires between wall studs...kind of a hassle, but cheaper than hiring a pro.

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docprego

· #5 · Oct 10, 2006

Well my idea is slightly different. I am going to enter the wall with a small hole directly behind each of my speakers. If this is not noticeable I will leave it like that, if it is I will install some wall plates. Then I am going to fish that wire in wall directly straight up the wall to an inch below the ceiling and exit the wall there. Finally I am going to install a foam crown molding product directly over the wires where they exit the upper wall. This should provide an invisible installation with the additional aesthetic benefit of crown molding. And if you are wondering I found 2 companies that sell this sort of foam molding and it is impressive looking and very easy to install. You can even order corner pieces so no mitering is needed.

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BIGmouthinDC

· #6 · Oct 10, 2006

If you want to get the wires totally out of sight but don't want to be hacking holes in your walls Don't overlook the opportunity to remove/replace the the base moulding and hide the wire there.

If you have fairly tall painted base moulding (mine is over 5 inches) you can remove it do all your wall surgery and wire fishing below the the 5 inch mark (but above the 1 1/2 inch base plate) slap up some quick wall patch and replace the moulding. Then just touch up the molding with some caulk and paint.

If you come to a door, remove the trim work and if you are lucky there is enough space to fish the wire between the door jamb and the framing. You might have to do a little surgery on the shims. Then just replace the the trim. When you get to a speaker location fish the wire up the wall cavity.

How if you are real lucky your base moulding is nice and thick and you can cut some grooves in it to accept wire with a a couple of passes on a table saw. You just gotta remember where to nail!

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CriticalListener

· #7 · Oct 10, 2006

Let me second the Flat Wire solution, especially if you need to repaint the room. I've used it and had great success.

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Kal Rubinson

· #8 · Oct 10, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by docprego
Well my idea is slightly different. I am going to enter the wall with a small hole directly behind each of my speakers. If this is not noticeable I will leave it like that, if it is I will install some wall plates. Then I am going to fish that wire in wall directly straight up the wall to an inch below the ceiling and exit the wall there. Finally I am going to install a foam crown molding product directly over the wires where they exit the upper wall. This should provide an invisible installation with the additional aesthetic benefit of crown molding. And if you are wondering I found 2 companies that sell this sort of foam molding and it is impressive looking and very easy to install. You can even order corner pieces so no mitering is needed.

While that will work, it will add considerable extra length to the wires (assuming your speakers are floor-standers and not mounted high up). How about a decorative hollow baseboard to do the same?

Kal

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docprego

· #9 · Oct 11, 2006

What is the issue with slightly longer wire runs? If you are running in wall wire it is going to be good quality anyway, I don't see this as an issue. Hollow baseboard will require a LOT more work too. Just removing the baseboard is a big job and is tough to do without causing some serious damage. With the crown molding solutions you just stick them up, they are feather light because they are foam.

If I thought it wasn't such a big job I would like to buy and use this product:

http://www.wiretracks.com/prod-rf.html

The problem with this product is when you encounter a door frame or other obstacle. With the crown molding you are running the wire overhead so there are no obstacles.

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Kal Rubinson

· #10 · Oct 11, 2006

Unless there are doors or other interruptions, I'd go with a baseboard. I don't know how long your runs are but the trip up and down the wall will add about 16feet to each run and that may be significant. That said, you might consider going with 14ga if the runs are going to be long.

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docprego

· #11 · Oct 11, 2006

My runs will be about 8 feet inwall and then the distance to the receiver. For the rears the distance to the receiver will be very small because the receiver is in the rear of the room centered on the back wall. I will just have to run the wire a few feet to the position above the receiver and then fish it down to the receiver height. Of course the fronts will be longer runs to the back wall and then down to the receiver.

I have thought about the flat wire others have mentioned but I see one major problem. Unless you are painting AND TEXTURING over it, won't it be an eyesore even if the paint blends? I do not know how to match a texture from an existing wall over a thin piece of wire. I am thinking without texturing over it, the flat wire will become an obvious defect on the wall. On the other hand it would probably be less noticeable than wire raceway running down the wall and painted to match, which I have used once before. It looked OK, certainly better than the bare wire. Flat wire users, what has been your experience?

Ya know you guys have me thinking, maybe I'll combine the flat wire with the crown molding idea. I could run it on wall and painted up to behind the crown molding and avoid all of that wire fishing and holes in my new walls. Taking it a step further, if the flat wire is really not noticeable I could run it down to rest right above the baseboards and paint it. Hmmmm, the possibilities-what to do?

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pj2004

· #12 · Oct 11, 2006

You could do chair rail but personally I don't care for the look of that. Do you have carpet in the room? If so, you could run wire along the bottom (in front of) the baseboard trim and then put a base shoe molding on top of the wire. You'd have to nail into the baseboard making sure not to hit the wire, or you could use caulk. The wire would sit down into the carpet fibers so there wouldn't appear to be any hidden wires under the base shoe. The crown molding idea sounds pretty good also if that's your best option.

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docprego

· #13 · Oct 11, 2006

What exactly is base shoe molding? Is it the equivalent of crown molding but for the floor? i am imagining it going over the lowe part of the baseboar dmolding and sitting flush with the floor.

The issue with chair rail is that it will enocunter obstacles, specifically a large sliding glass door. It is the same issue that I have with the baseboard molding but is avoided by the crown molding.

The room is completely carpeted wall to wall and into the closet.

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BIGmouthinDC

· #14 · Oct 12, 2006

Shoe:
http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_...ge_id=35720328

In my family room the base board molding is mounted about a 1/2 inch off the subfloor. The carpet tack strip is nailed outside the outer edge of the baseboard which creates a pocket where the edge of the carpet is stuck.

Having explained this I was able to stuff a couple of pretty good sized speaker wires in that space and they can't be seen.

Take a look at your carpet/molding situation.

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pj2004

· #15 · Oct 12, 2006

That's pretty much the thought I was having with the base shoe/quarter round moldings just in case the baseboard was not raised above the floor. The base shoe is usually flush with the floor, but if you have carpeting it can be installed flush with the top of the carpeting if that makes sense, and wires can be run underneath that since there is some room to push the carpet down and do that and then it'll fluff back up. If you have a really low pile carpet or berber that might not be as easy to do but it was just an idea that you might be able to use. It may or may not be any easier than the other ideas.

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